A Sisterhood Battling Breast Cancer

When a family member is stricken with cancer, it's natural to want to do something. That was certainly the case for Sally-Ann Roberts (left) and Dorothy Roberts McEwen (right) when their younger sister, Robin, co-anchor of ABC's Good Morning America, was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. They rushed from Louisiana and Mississippi to to be by Robin's side in New York, when she had a partial mastectomy, and again when her spirits dipped during chemo. They have since segued from supportive sisters of one woman with breast cancer to being part of a sisterhood of thousands who are helping scientists unlock clues to the disease, in hopes of preventing millions from developing breast cancer in the future. Sally-Ann and Dorothy are participants in the Sister Study, a 10-year survey sponsored by The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

Since it's inception in 2004, the Sister Study has recruited 51,000 women from all 50 states and Puerto Rico, who represent different ethnic, educational, employment and socio-economic backgrounds. They study participants are bound together by a family tie-like Sally-Ann an Dorothy, each has had a sister with breast cancer.

"I learned about the Sister Study while interviewing another study spokesperson on the show," said Sally-Ann Roberts, who is co-anchor on New Orleans' CBS Eyewitness Morning News. While on the air she promised to join the study. "I immediately felt that this was an opportunity for me to help answer questions about why Robin may have gotten breast cancer while I had not."